The name Cliffy B doesn't exactly conjure reverent images for PlayStation diehards. After all, the guy is responsible for creating one of Microsoft's biggest franchises--Gears of War--and was an influential figurehead at Epic Games, a studio whose Unreal Engine 3 was notoriously lackluster during PS3's early years.

But now that Cliff Bleszinski has left Epic Games in pursuit of other career avenues, he's free to speak candidly about the industry he's grown alongside for 20 years. In an interview with Engadget, he had some choice words to share about Microsoft's treatment of indie developers and how Sony is doing it better. "I have a very good relationship with Microsoft, but [there are] a lot of TCRs you'd have to go through," he explained. ". . . all the stuff you'd have to go through to get your game on Xbox Live Arcade, or even issue updates on; it was a nightmare."

I am truly happy that Sony has taken a big leap this year with their next gen system and made life easier for the developers to create games and all. They've not only made the developers happy, but us too. Thank you Sony for all the changes you guys have brought especially the new features. Hope that made sense haha :)

I think it's great that this time around, Sony is getting good hype before launch. Remember PS3 and the days of "doom" articles on every gaming website. Really glad Sony is getting the hype and coverage they deserve.

They made some bad choices here and there but they never gave up on PS3 and the gamers, that says alot from a company that took losses for every console sold. It means they don't necessarily think "money money money", they think strategically and they follow the tradition of having a great customer relationship.

Those lazy developers were not welcome on PlayStation 3. But now the PS4 is more like 360 everyone is welcome and Sony deserves all credit for reaching out. The cell was never a problem, it was just that these lazy developers did not know how to code. Now Sony fells sorry for them and decided to dumb down the PS4 to their level. I hope their appreciate how much Sony is doing for them to get their crap games on the great PlayStation brand.

Cliffy's been kissing a lot of butt lately. Yeah, what he is saying about Sony is true, but everyone already knows that Indies have been happy with Sony already. It's been 3 years of Sony working with indies, and Cliffy only NOW notices?

So what, he gets brownie points for taking 3 years to finally acknowledge the obvious?

He must still be looking for work. He's been kissing EA's (even claiming microtransactions and day 1 dlc is okay -_-), Nintendo's, Kojima's, and now Sony's butt. Am I missing any other companies?

Expect to see more of these. MS have been very good this gen in opening doors for indies through their XNA tools, but as has been accounted by a number of devs, the experience after these games have been made i.e. promotion, support, updates etc. can be terrible and off-putting. It's why you've seen many developers of MS-exclusive indie games come over to "the darkside" for reasons more than developers wanting to make more money.

Sony, meanwhile, have actually supported small indie ventures and make deals that work out best for both parties i.e. The Pub Fund that exchanges Sony's budget and publicity for a small period of exclusivity for PlayStation.

Also, note that there has been a stir in the development circle that Microsoft's direction is different to Sony's - and we all know Sony's direction with PS4, Vita, PS3 and mobile. http://www.destructoid.com/...

I can't wait til the 21st to see what MS has in store for indie devs. I know it was a nightmare before but I'm on a wait and see for the time being. As for PS4, kudos for Sony embracing all developers. Not to mention them funding indie games for PSN+ which should have some awesome titles.

Well if it's true that Windows 8 is going to be part of the next Xbox, Indie's might be able to self publish for the small fee that is required on Windows 8 PC, which is like $60 I believe? Anyway, if rumors are anything to go on, Microsoft will have a more open service that is more inviting to indie's, Free To Play and hopefully MMORPG's, that was one thing that was missing in my opinion.

Hopefully we'll see some of those things come together on all of the next gen platforms.

@TheOneEyedHound Actually Jagex said they'd be open to bringing Runescape to consoles, but they want cross play between Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, which will probably never happen.

I more meant games like the new rumored MMORPG from Lionhead Studios, which could be a Fable MMO, or the game Class4 by Undead Labs that was supposed to be one of the first MMORPG's on the Xbox 360, but looks like it was switched to the next Xbox.

Would be nice to get like the Skyrim MMO on next gen consoles as well.

Notch refuses to certify MineCraft for Windows 8 for a reason. The philosophy regarding indie and MS interaction is already established. More and more indies are showing up on PSN and they're great games. Microsoft HAD the opportunity with the Windows 8 certification process, to tweak the XBLA process as well, and chose not to. We'll know more on the 21st, but I don't see them making it any easier, consider how they've treated indies thus far.

Imagine for a moment, that MS and Sony approves of console cross play. The fanboy wars would be taken to another level. IN the game. I want to see this happen at some point. It would be so epic, the heads on mt. rushmore would cry.